The timing would be especially odd for Majerle, who, after four seasons with the team, will now have NCAA Tournament eligibility for the 2017-18 season after the team served a mandatory four-year probation period.

“It’s not going to be a successful year for us unless we get to the tournament,” Majerle said of next season.

The team faces the harsh reality of being in a one-bid league, where the conference tournament for the Western Athletic Conference will determine which team makes the tournament, regardless of how good their resume is.

The obvious pressure has even more of an impact for exposure in recruiting, something smaller schools such as Florida Gulf Coast can attest to.

“It’s huge in recruiting,” Majerle said. “We’re not only up against Pac-12 [schools], but Big East, other schools that we wouldn’t even be able to talk to.”

The Antelopes finished 22-9 this season, tying for second in the WAC with New Mexico State and trailing CSU Bakersfield. New Mexico State won the postseason conference tournament, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated as a No. 14 seed against No. 3 seed Baylor 91-73.

Despite the recent success of the program, winning 49 games combined in the past two seasons, everything is a prelude to next season’s road to the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve been working for that since the day I arrived at GCU,” Majerle said.